Still need help with metal rock.

[Rob66]

Help.......I know some of you have seen it already.

What the hell is it. Found a few yards from railroad.

A jeweler said it could be ZINC.
My gemologist couldn't put his finger on it.

Heavy like gold.
not iron.
looks like a bunch of metallic
grains pressed together.
Not silver. No reaction to acid.

Where can I send it to be tested??

Thanks,
Rob

 

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[Ant]

Help.......I know some of you have seen it already.

What the hell is it. Found a few yards from railroad.

A jeweler said it could be ZINC.
My gemologist couldn't put his finger on it.

Heavy like gold.
not iron.
looks like a bunch of metallic
grains pressed together.
Not silver. No reaction to acid.

Where can I send it to be tested??

Thanks,
Rob

Is it attracted to a magnet?

 

[Ant]

If you can't use this link http://geology.csupomona.edu/alert/mineral/id1.htm to ID it you can take it the geology class at your local Community or State Collage, I’m sure they will be glad to ID it for you. If it was me I would take it to RCC or UCR.

 

[Rob66]

Not magnetic.Thanks for the link and Info will check out.

Can't scratch with a steel nail. maybe it's steel.
Wow.... just sharped the hell out of my knife with it. Using the test.

Not Magnetite!

 

[countrygrammy]

I'm not sure i'm spelling it right but could it be babit a kind of metal?

 

[generik]

Looks like a "klinker" from a coal burning furnace or steam engine. My dad brought cool ones home from the power station that he worked in when I was a kid. Railroad garbage is my guess.

 

[countrygrammy]

When i was young me,my brother and sister used to go to the train station and watch the trains

go by.We lived in a small town and the trains would get what they call hot boxes.The wheels

would get so hot the sparks would come from the wheels,sometime it looked like fire.The railroad

attendent would watch for these and call ahead to have it checked out.I thought maybe this was

metal from a bearing that had gotten so hot and melted and fell out,maybe not just a thought it

it could be. Maybe Babbitt metal

 

[Felinepeachy]

It's pretty, that's for sure.

 

[EggyOG]

It looks like a broken garnet to me. It appears to have the reddish color crystals reflecting light in the pic

 

[Felinepeachy]

It looks like a broken garnet to me. It appears to have the reddish color crystals reflecting light in the pic

Okay, Eggy, could you just point the red color out to me. Am I color blind?

 

[JiminSD]

Looks like a "klinker" from a coal burning furnace or steam engine. My dad brought cool ones home from the power station that he worked in when I was a kid. Railroad garbage is my guess.

I am a geologist and there are some simple tests you can do for basic mineral identification i.e luster, hardness, streak, cleavage, etc..
From what I can tell it has a metalic luster, and a hardness greater than 5.5. Now if it leaves a yellow to bright red streak when scracthing a streak plate "unglazed ceramic plate" and was natural "not man made" it could be hematite iron ore".  The color with the eye is no idicator of what type of streak it makes "a silver colored mineral can leave a red streak". Of course  it could also be a "clinker' which form in furnaces.

 

[EggyOG]

There are very small red reflections on the rock. The small crystals that make up a larger garnet have that effect. A pseudo morphed garnet that just contains remnants of the original crystal structure (bad way to describe it, but I don’t know how else to say it) often have this look. I checked the picture on three different computers and yes, you are color blind.

 

[Rob66]

Wow thanks for all the info!!!! I have found many rock (iron ore) around and near the railroad. But nothing like this. Will do more test tonight.

Thanks Rob

O.K It leaves a black- grayish color...i wrote my name with it like a pencil.
clinker? If it is lead how come so heavy?

 

[JiminSD]

Wow thanks for all the info!!!! I have found many rock (iron ore) around and near the railroad. But nothing like this. Will do more test tonight.

Thanks Rob

O.K It leaves a black- grayish color...i wrote my name with it like a pencil.
clinker? If it is lead how come so heavy?

Ok what do we know?
You say it looks metalic -metalic luster
a nail can't scratch it -hardness greater than 5.5
streak-black

Ok its not hematite (no red brown streak) and its not galena which has a hardness much less than 5.5

you say its not magnetic? Did you try to see if it would deflect a compass needle? if it deflects a compass needle I would say it is magnetite

 

[Rob66]

It has no effect on a compass (key chain compass ) it may be all plastic.

 

[JiminSD]

It has no effect on a compass (key chain compass ) it may be all plastic.

Magnetite characteristically has a weak magnetic field which would deflect a working compass not deflecting the needle might rule out natural magnetite. my guess is it could be some iron mineral or some manmade mineral "furnace slag etc..) coal has numerous iron minerals in it like pyrite, magnetite, hematite, etc... this could have formed in the furnace as one of the earlier poster suspected...any further testing starts geting more difficult like determining specific gravity.

 

[Africa]

Woh this is very interesting, I live in South Africa and I also have a "rock" just like this one in the photo above, I tried to cut it with a Oxy Accetylin cutting gas torch, it would not cut, it just got red hot, I then tried to cut a piece off with my Tungstan tip metal circular saw, but only stuffed up a few teeth in the process, then I took it to a business that makes grave stones, they managed to cut a piece off using a small angle grinder but it had a special diamond tip blade, it did cut a piece off, but there were no sparks, My rock is not magnetic, it weighs very heavy for it's size, also got that sparkle look to it, will post some pic's of my rock as well.

I call it my Mars Rock........

 

[Rob66]

Woh this is very interesting, I live in South Africa and I also have a "rock" just like this one in the photo above, I tried to cut it with a Oxy Accetylin cutting gas torch, it would not cut, it just got red hot, I then tried to cut a piece off with my Tungstan tip metal circular saw, but only stuffed up a few teeth in the process, then I took it to a business that makes grave stones, they managed to cut a piece off using a small angle grinder but it had a special diamond tip blade, it did cut a piece off, but there were no sparks, My rock is not magnetic, it weighs very heavy for it's size, also got that sparkle look to it, will post some pic's of my rock as well.

I call it my Mars Rock........

Sounds right....I was able to sharpen my knife on it. I do have to say... it was coated with a black coating but was placed in acid for a few days and scrubbed the hell out of it. I know acid has no effect on gold and platinum and this thing.

So it will sit here till i figure it out. If I send it in... I'm afraid I'll never see it again.

 

[bakergeol]

Crack it open and post some close ups of the fresh surfaces.

Wack it- it is just a rock and has no feelings.

 

[Africa]

Even if you wack it with a ten ton hammer, it will not split open, my metal detector picks it up loudly, will post some pic's soon. Just have to look for them.